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| xx, The - XX | The xx - XX
Record Label: Young Turks
Release Date: August 17, 2009
Intimacy; it’s a reflection of our competence as people. Reassuring, awkward, precarious - the connections we have with others are oftentimes the way that we test our dispositions toward communication, relationships, articulation, sociability, love. We find contentment in others that can bypass our reservations and produce, in us, a suitable partner, friend, or suitor without the fear of remaining vulnerable; a euphoria of facility. Now forgive me if I lack the qualifications and life experiences to defend all of that, but I say it because The xx, a young band of 20-something Southwest Londoners, conceptualize and strengthen this idea better than any band I've heard. From their minimalist arrangements, the singing, the words, their use of space between them, it reinforces the idea of an impressive young band using their resources to communicate the complications and aversions toward the world of bodies, sex, bonds, and our reservations toward it all. It's fitting, then, that a record that communicates such surreal frustrations and realizations could be produced as a debut by a band so young and superbly confident.
It begins with the intro, a sort of instrumental blueprint and an indication of what's to come. The minimalism is on show from the very start - the space held for notes to linger before transitioning to the next, every fleck of guitar and thud of drum to coalesce and be dwelled upon before leaving to make room for the next subtle alteration; every minor shift here introduces a change in dimension. This is all escalated with the vocal tradeoffs of two very different singers: the blunt, magnified drawl of bassist Oliver Sim and the soft, voluptuous bellows of guitarist Romy Madley Croft, who deliver and trade their lines at a pace that keeps up with and introduces another crucial element to the veering of their arrangements. The singers' shared roles, never taking on hostile tone, are what lend ultimate credence to the songs. Take "VCR", the following track, as the first showcase of their chemistry: synth taps reminiscent of a xylophone and an ostinato guitar hook embellish the track and then become the backbone while Croft and Sim time their deliveries throughout to introduce the spiritual strength underlying the record. Every component introduced is dependent on their roles shifting, playing off of each other, and supporting each other for it creates the enchantment of the record's minor, almost shy patterns.
Expertly establishing their craft, The xx go off from there further revealing their bag of tricks. "Islands" sees Sim cleverly using short bass chimes before introducing his lines, a trick later similarly repeated on finale "Stars" where Jamie Smith's keys pick up just as Sim and Croft seem to be simmering down. The opening verses of "Basic Space" are built atop nothing more than a quiet parade of clicks and a single beat before softly igniting in unison to sing the chorus. The near slowcore guitars of "Infinity" warble around before slightly picking up for Croft's brazen admission: "I can't give it up to someone else's touch", percussion crashing perfectly around each quartet of words, "Because I care too much, I care too much". Many songs start off with bare arrangements before suddenly, as if provoked, jolt up as on "Shelter" whose space between the chorus are filled by nothing but Croft's disjointed words and a single perforating synth note.
The formula is cemented in the first two tracks, but it never deteriorates, never becomes uninteresting because of what The xx have to say. Croft and Sim are never restrained - they exhibit restraint with everything they choose to play, sing, or strike. It adds to the strength of the lyrics and the lines they straddle between (intimacy, adequacy, sex, relationships), a strange democracy, like agendas trying to coexist and support each other while at the same time providing uneasiness and friction with their words. It's on full display in songs like "Crystalised" and "Heart Skipped A Beat", the latter sporting come-ons such as "Welcome to the floor" and "Make you feel like never before" from Sim, only for Croft to spill out, "The more I see, the more I understand, but sometimes I still need you". The last line is then reverberated by both singers, their admissions cascading atop of each other's repeat, continually sounding more sincere and more defeated with each new echo even though they, for the most part, speak it like their music. It's at moments like these where the vocals serve a dual purpose and coalesce with the arrangements until all we're left with is the feelings we individually unearth from the words. It's detached and distant, vulnerable but inviting.
Croft and Sim never sing anything truly profound, but their words flirt with scenarios that invite comparisons to hushed relationships, reserved characters eager to feel contempt, but retract their possible advances out of shyness and lack of assurance. "Night Time" reads as inner conflict as Croft begins to articulate how much someone means to her, but being unsure of whether to trust them despite the fact that her burdens are "embedded in my chest and it hurts to hold." The beginning of "Stars" stands in stark contrast with Sim shamelessly boasting, "I can give it all on the first date, I don't have to exist outside this place" with Croft seemingly retorting back in the next verse with "I can draw the line on the first date" only to finally let alien presences into her haven: "I'll let you cross it, let you take every line I've got when the time gets late". The simplest song, "VCR", establishes their dual personalities allowing words and statements to remain isolated for short periods of time ("You/used to have all the answers/and you/still have them to") in Croft's spotlight while Sim proceeds quicker through his pauses to deliver his fantasies, "When I go out to the pier, I'm gonna dive, and have no fear" before the two finish the refraining motto of the song explaining their looseness: "You, you just know".
The production of Jamie Smith is implemented perfectly into the bare valleys of each song. With his arsenal of drum machines, taps, clicks, loops, and a few guitars, his arrangements are understated, repetitive, and lay the foundation for Croft and Sim to slump, glide, or inch over. He's adept and knows when to add an extra layer to produce a profound effect ("Stars", "Shelter") when the song appears to be wilting, peppering "VCR" and "Basic Space" with single repeating chimes before Croft and Sim evoke themselves, or subtly granting verses depth through near silent background clatter ("Infinity", "Fantasy"). Especially near the end of certain songs, he's able to jolt the arrangements up a single notch with the flourish of a single ostinato note, a minor change that enlivens and changes the effect of the repetitious guitar and bass thumbing.
Even with all this said, I feel like I've completely wasted my time. Attempting to articulate The xx's effect on me is maddening: everything about them is hypnotic, defies easy categorization into any emotional camp, never reaching any conclusions, casting people in moments conducting themselves and trying to be okay with themselves while they shuffle out of their comfort zones while jumping back into it once expected to open up, meandering through situations they aren't fully sure of or equipped for with all the stability of a lucid dream. However, their fragmentations are so fully formed and communicated, so sure of themselves in their hesitance, that they earn their equivocacy to the point where we reward it for enthralling us so greatly. They use their fluid economic approach to arranging notes and lines with sophistication and confidence despite the uneasiness they capture in their music: despite the fluidity and mellifluousness, everything sounds structured. Not for a second does a note feel wasted, useless, or unimportant for it'll most likely evoke the effect of the one following it. The execution and payoffs are so high, that it's a formula they're bound to repeat. However, it benefits from repeats and repetition as they are the music's primary foundation and blueprint spaced out and scattered. All The xx's protagonists need to get better is the future to strengthen and hone their insecure blemishes. With a band as talented, clever, economic, and touching as The xx, the future can only reward them. |
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Displaying posts 1 - 15 of 23. |
10:19 AM on 07/02/12 | When I die, rap dies; Destiny Bond. | | |
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10:20 AM on 07/02/12 | amazing review, darr. i love this album to death and you did it justice and then some with this. perfectly captures the essence of this album | | |
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10:28 AM on 07/02/12 | That's way too many words that I dont give a fuck about | | |
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10:30 AM on 07/02/12 | When I die, rap dies; Destiny Bond. That's way too many words that I dont give a fuck about |
thanks for getting this out of the way | | |
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11:33 AM on 07/02/12 | tl dr
edit: only kidding, great writing, totally identify with this record as a young person struggling to connect w/ other people, intimacy is weird, love xx. A+ | | |
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03:16 PM on 07/02/12 | This was an amazing review Darrick. You are incredibly talented and one of the first people I'd trust on an album like this. Thanks for getting me excited. | | |
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04:30 PM on 07/02/12 | Looking for the morning after. Amazing review, especially that first paragraph. Love you/this album/"Heart Skipped a Beat". | | |
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11:10 AM on 07/04/12 | It's album review, not a essay bro. I shouldn't need a dictionary, and a thesourous to understand your article. That intricate of a writing style would be great if this was NPR, but it's absolutepunk bro... take it down a notch. | | |
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11:37 AM on 07/04/12 | When I die, rap dies; Destiny Bond. It's album review, not a essay bro. I shouldn't need a dictionary, and a thesourous to understand your article. That intricate of a writing style would be great if this was NPR, but it's absolutepunk bro... take it down a notch. |
I'm down with brown town too. What part of brown town do you rep specifically? | | |
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12:38 AM on 07/05/12 | I'm down with brown town too. What part of brown town do you rep specifically? |
I didn't mean to insult you in any way. It was meant to be constructive criticism. Take it with a grain of salt.
I rep the west side. | | |
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01:05 PM on 07/06/12 | great review. love the cd. | | |
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